LASAA initiates outdoor advertising audience measurement

Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) has commenced its highly anticipated outdoor audience research project expected to reveal fascinating statistics about the opportunity to see outdoor adverts in the state. The research, the first of its kind in West Africa and in line with published audience research for radio, TV and press, will produce audience estimates for outdoor advertising.

The data published will tell advertisers how many people see an outdoor advertising campaign in specific locations in the state as well as how often they do so. The audience will be categorised into age, sex, class, lifestyle, and so on. The information is expected to be used by advertisers in planning and evaluating advertising campaigns in the outdoor medium.

It is the first time that such a project will be initiated in Nigeria since outdoor advertising commenced in the country more than 50 years ago.

Speaking on this initiative, George Noah, managing director, LASAA, said in a statement: “This is a defining moment in outdoor advertising practice in Nigeria. For advertisers to make informed buying decision, data analysis of the target audience is very essential. Outdoor advertising markets in developed economies are flourishing because data is available for both buyers and sellers of outdoor spaces to make informed choices and careful planning. We need to embark on a scientific audience research measurement to enable the sector compete favourably with radio, TV and press.’’

He went on further: “Scientific audience measurement will provide details of realistic opportunity to see (ROTS) with eye-tracking studies, which will gauge the likelihood to see (LTS) factor of the various types of display. This will also account for scale, orientation, distance, movement, illumination and spatially analyse the sites in relation to competitors, customer locations as well as traffic patterns.’’ He concluded that traffic audit will offer immense value to advertisers in the area of accurate audience figures and also encourage advertisers in making informed outdoor advertising purchase.

“The medium is changing at a rapid rate and we must think from the point of view of the audience, not from the position of a billboard structure. If we start with a deep knowledge of how people move about, advertisers can have the flexibility to decide what they put in their way in terms of communication opportunities. By defining the audience it will be possible to use the data to plan, trade and compute valuation for the medium,” he said, adding “we need to encourage outdoor advertisers to consider more populated areas such as Ikorodu and Alimosho. The LASAA Outdoor Audience research we believe, will reveal the marketing potential of previously ignored areas.”

As well as billboards, outdoor encompasses advertising on street light poles, bus shelters, umbrellas, chairs, ashtrays, beer mats, mugs, sandwich boards, balloons, airships, floors, doors, litter bins, supermarket trolleys, milk cartons, the backs of supermarket receipts. Only recently, ROUTE, an outdoor audience advertising measuring system was launch in the United Kingdom where there has been a huge £19 million investment in its research. LASAA has consistently advocated for a value driven outdoor advertising sector following several complaints of low turnover by outdoor advertising practitioners.